Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-06-27
BOLD BURGLARS.
THEY SUCCESSFULLY LOOT A CHICAGO
BOARDING HOUSE,
With the Aid Of GhlOrubrm and Dsyilish Daring
Details Of the Plan by Which Twenty
Persons Were Dragged in
q Single Night

CHlCAGO, June ZO.-lnt ponce are ln-
yestigating one of the boldest hurglaries
that has been brought to their notice in a
long time. Tuesday night last the big
clearinghouse of Henry Sundmacher,
No. 764 Claybourn avenue, was rsided
and twenty boarders were chloro-
formed and robbed. Two of them
lost gold watches and chains two
others lost silver watches, while nearly all
the others were robbed of sums Of money
ranging from 81 10 $40, besides trinkets
and other articles of value. The boarding
house is rather queerly constructed build
ing 1t is two-story brick, and the pro-
prietor and his family occupy the frst
floor, while the second floor is divided into
ten small rooms, occupied by the board
ers.
THE THEORY OF THE POLICE
who have examined the epremises regarding
the robbery is that the thieves entered the
long hallway and entered the rooms, one
after an other, by means of pincers or false
keys, and after chloroforming the sleeping
boarders, robbed them at their leisure.
The victims are mostly employees of
the North Chicago Street Railway Com
pany - conductors and drivers and
nearly all of them are early risers.
The are awakened ordinarily by
alarm clocks, but Wednesday morning they
did not get up until they were aroused by
servants some hours later after they ought
to have been at work. 1t required good
deal of shaking and calling to arouse some
of the men. Some of them complained of
violent headaches, and when they discoy-
cred that they had been robbed they at
once surmised that they
HAD BEEN CHLoRoFORMED.
The robbers evidently did their work hur-
riedly, as they did not take time to find
the bank rolls OF the conductors, amount
ing to several hundred dollars. They con-
tented themselves with taking what came
to hand most easily, and when they went
through all the rooms they left. Several
circus men have been hanging around the
vicinity for some time, and while their
show was located at the corner
of Webster and Claybourn avenues
they rOOmed in Sundmacher's house,
but when they moved their tents further
north they also changed their lodgings.
Two Of their number are under arrest
charged with stealing watches from another
boarding house Adolph Hecter, one Of
the inmates OF the house robbed, said that
when he awoke the sun was shining
brightly. He should have arisen at five
o'clock. His head was aching terribly and
A PUNGENT oDoR
pervaded the room. The man who shared
the bed with Hector was sound asleep and
the most violent shaking failed to arouse
him. A small piece Of sponge saturated
with some powerful drug lay upon the bed
clothes. Convinced that all was not right
Hector called for help, which was answered
by two of the bOarders who had had simi-
lar experience in other parts of the house.
Hector found his clothes rihed of their con-
tents, and all the drawers in his bureau
pried open. He lost ring, which was re-
moved from his finger while he was asleep,
a pin and about So in small coin. Hector
said that about midnight Tuesday night
he
HEARD FOOTSTEPS IN THE HALLWAY,
but thought nothing of it, as many Of the
bOarders, who are conductors and drivers
on the street cars in this district, came
home at different hours. He fell asleep
soon after, only to be awakened an hour
later by strange noises in the bedroom.
His roommate, who was also awake,
said the noise was made by rats, and
the two soon fell asleep The next time
they awoke it was late in the morn
ing. Sundmacher, while on the police force
in the early T0's, was pounced upon by |
four toughs and so badly cut with knives
that he was unfit for any work in the ser
vice. Sundmacher, although bleeding
freely and suffering intensely from his many
wounds, dragged all Of his assailants TO the
station and succeeded in sending them to
long terms of imprisonment at Joliet. He
is an old man now, but possesses much of
the strength Of his early age.